the winners of the Accent on Design® Awards, which recognize product design excellence, innovation and creativity. The winners – Ameico for Studio Cheha, Chilewich, Fort Standard, and NEO – are all exhibitors in Accent on Design®, a juried collection of contemporary designers and their products, at the winter 2016 edition of the NY NOW market which runs through Wednesday, February 3, at New York City’s Jacob K. Javits Convention Center.

“Accent on Design shines a spotlight on the best in contemporary design and functionality and these awards recognise companies that continue to innovate and bring exciting products to market,” said Randi Mohr, Co-Direct or and Vice President, NY NOW. “From Ameico and Chilewich, to Fort Standard and NEO, these companies are on the cutting edge of design.”

Accent on Design® Award winners are determined by a select committee based on criteria such as ingenuity, creativity, innovation, function, originality and design. The winter 2016 Accent on Design® Award winners are:

• Best New Product: The BULBING LED Lamps from Ameico for Studio Cheha are laser-engraved clear acrylic glass with hidden LED elements that deceive the eye into thinking that there is a shade, offering a space-saving, truly unique design.

• Overall Excellence: Chilewich (pictured) creates original textiles – renowned worldwide for their durability, ease of care and inventive design – that have been enhancing interiors around the world since 2000, and each season brings a new collection for table and floor that embodies the company’s distinctive aesthetic and unique vision that is created by founder and creative director Sandy Chilewich.
• Consistent Excellence in Creative Material Application: Born in 2007 in Rome after designer Rosanna Contadini discovered neoprene yarn in a hardware store, NEO delivers high-end objects for the home and personal accessories that are knitted, crocheted, woven, simply plaited, twisted or knotted with this velvety, flexible, smooth material.

• Product Collection Excellence: Founded by Gregory Buntain and Ian Collings, Fort Standard is an independent contemporary American design studio focused on creating unique high quality functional home goods and furniture. Their “warm contemporary” style of collaborative design is compelling in their innovative approach to material, connections and production processes.

For nearly 30 years, Accent on Design® has been the industry’s definitive resource for design-led home and lifestyle merchandise. Presented as part of NY NOW’s HOME Collection, Accent on Design’s 150+ contemporary designers are culled through a set of juried acceptance criteria including: originality, creativity and authentic product design; new and innovative use of materials; products which address and solve problems; consistent and continuous new product creations; a focus on contemporary design; and functionality.